Hat assembly

ABSTRACT

A hat configured and patterned to be associated with a helmet of selected sports team is provided with a facemask configured to regain its initial shape upon removing an external force sufficient to deform the portion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention generally relates to clothing, and particular to ahat assembly having a shape memory structure.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Although always popular, sporting events in general have recentlygained new, higher levels of popularity. Without diminishing thecultural trends well explaining the increased popularity, the latter isalso a result of a previously unheard of commercialization of the sportand, particularly, of a favorite team and/or athletes playing on thisteam.

[0005] A myriad of jerseys, footwear and other sports accessories floodgigantic sports stores and small shops. Fans, from the very young to thevery old, fashion colors of favorite sports teams throughout small townsand big cities. Merchandising uniforms has become a large and lucrativebusiness, whereas wearing these attributes has turned into a fashionstatement.

[0006] While some sports have uniforms including basketball shoes,jerseys and trunks, other sports, in addition to the standardattributes, feature a headgear. The hockey and football associationsmandate that players wear helmets. However, to the best of theapplicants' knowledge, hats imitating helmets have not yet found theirway to the stores. As a consequence, sport organizations do not useavailable resources to raise their revenue, and the fans loose analternative way of expressing their unflagging support for a favoritesports team.

[0007] It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method of advertisingdirected to increasing revenue of a selected sports team bymanufacturing hats imitating the helmets of the selected sports team.Also, a hat configured so as to preserve its similarity with a helmetfor a prolonged period of time is desirable as well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The inventive hat and method of manufacturing meet these needs bypatterning hats to obtain a striking similarity with the helmets offavorite sports team. To maximize such a similarity, the inventive hathas a facemask characterized by shape-memory qualities. Accordingly,when an external force applied to the facemask is removed, it is capableof returning to the desired initial position.

[0009] In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a hat in the formof the helmet is configured to have a hat component imitating aprotective facemask including at least one rib covered by fleece. Therib can be made from polymeric material, but the invention is notlimited to any particular material as long as the facemask is capable ofreturning to the desired position.

[0010] It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a methodof manufacturing and selecting hats allowing the fans to be associatedwith their favorite sports team.

[0011] Still another object of the invention is to provide a hat formedwith a shape memory portion configured to allow the hat to assume thedesired initial position after an external force applied to this portionhas been removed.

[0012] Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method ofmanufacturing and advertising the inventive hat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above and other objects, features and advantages will becomemore readily apparent from the specific description accompanied by thefollowing drawings, in which:

[0014]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hat manufactured in accordancewith the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the reinforcingstructure of the inventive hat shown in FIG. 1 and taken along linesII-II; and

[0016]FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the inventive hat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

[0017] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a hat 10 mirroring a helmet is generallymade from a soft material 12 and has a facemask 14 visually repeatingthe pattern of the protective facemask of the helmet and capable ofassuming the desired position after having been deformed. In particular,as better illustrated in FIG. 2, the material 12 can be any softmaterial 12 including wool, cotton, synthetic or any possiblecombination of these materials. The softness of the material 12 isdesirable because the hat 10 is intended to have a single “fit all”size. Preferably, the material 12 is fleece typically providing the userwith the feeling of comfort.

[0018] As is known, football, hockey and baseball all have a protectivemask or facemask configured to minimize facial damage. In accordancewith the invention, the facemask 14 has a composite structure includinga shape memory material, such as a relatively rigid plastic or wire ormesh having a resiliency modulus substantially higher than the rest ofthe material 12. Accordingly, a reinforcing rib 18 made of shape memorymaterial is capable of returning to its initial position every timeafter an external force sufficient to deform the mask 14 has beenceased.

[0019] Structurally, the mask 14 has a sleeve 16 made of the softmaterial 12 sown over the rib 18 or bonded therewith. The reinforcingrib 18 may have a variety of shapes and cross-sections including, butnot limited to a tubular shape or a flat shape. The length of the rib 18is slightly shorter than a length of outer sleeve 16 to allow theopposite ends of the rib 18, coupled to the end regions of the sleeve16, to provide a tensile force sufficient to have the sleeve conform tothe desired shape.

[0020] While the mask 14 may have various configurations, in general, atleast one frontward curved sleeve 16 extends between the opposite sidesof the hat 10 and is attached thereto. Advantageously, multiplereinforced sleeves 16 have their ends attached to the opposite sides ofthe hat while having their central portions spaced apart andinterconnected by cross pieces 34 configured similarly to the sleeves16.

[0021] Turning to FIG. 3, the inventive hat 10, besides the facemask 14,has a main portion 20 sown from multiple segments 22, 24 and 26overlapping one another along the inner side of the hat 10. The centralsegment 24 may have at least one outer strip 28 attached thereto whilebeing stretched over the central segment 24. Many sports teams havehelmets painted in a variety of colors. Basically, the hat may have asmany segments of material 12 as colors carried by the team's sportswear.Since hats are particularly appropriate in a cold weather, the hat 10has a pair of warmers 30 attached to the outer or inner side of the hatand designed to provide additional thermal protection to the ears of theuser. To complete its imitation of the helmet, the hat may be providedwith a strip 38 provided with an attaching element, such as Velcro, andconfigured to close the hat 10.

[0022] The design of the hat 10 may vary to copy the helmet of hockeyand football players, baseball catchers and car and motorcycle racedrivers. Overall, the inventive hat 10 would be most attractive tosports fans. Accordingly, a method of manufacturing starts withselecting the desired team, and following the selection of the player'sposition, preparing the hat 10 in accordance with the inventivestructure, as disclosed above.

[0023] While many modifications may be easily foreseen by one ofordinary skill, the scope of the invention is limited to and defined bythe appending claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hat comprising at least one portion configuredto have a reinforcing rib made from a shape memory material and a sleevemade of a soft material and surrounding the reinforcing rib, whereas theat least one portion assumes the desired initial position upon removingan external force applied to and sufficient to deform the reinforcingrib.
 2. The hat of claim 1, wherein the soft material is selected fromthe group consisting of fleece, wool, cotton, and a combination thereof3. The hat of claim 1, wherein the reinforcing rib is selected from meshmaterial or plastic.
 4. The hat of claim 1, wherein the hat has a mainportion configured to extend complementary to the head of a user andshaped to have opposite sides configured to cover the ears of the user,the at least one portion being a facemask extending between the sides ofthe central portion and spaced frontward from the face of the user.
 5. Ahat, comprising: a body made from a soft material and having a shape ofsports helmet when the hat is in use; and a face mask including at leastone part having opposite ends attached to spaced-apart locations of thebody of the hat and a central portion extending frontwards from a faceof user, the at least one part including: an inner reinforcing rib madefrom a shape memory material and capable of deforming in response to anexternal force applied to the at least one part and of assuming aninitial shape thereof upon removing the external force, and an outersleeve surrounding the reinforcing rib and made from the soft materialextend complementary to the reinforcing rib.
 6. The hat of claim 5,wherein the soft material is selected from the group consisting offleece, wool, cotton and a combination thereof.
 7. The hat of claim 5,wherein the reinforcing rib is selected from mesh material or plastic.8. The hat of claim 5, wherein the reinforcing rib is curved in theinitial position thereof.
 9. The hat of claim 5, further comprising atleast one second reinforcing rib having opposite ends thereof coupled toopposite ends of the at least one reinforcing rib and attached to thebody of the hat, central portions of the at least one and secondreinforcing ribs being spaced apart and bridged by at least one crossrib.
 10. The hat of claim 9, wherein the body of the hat is sawn from aplurality of segments having at least one central segment, the segmentsbeing code-colored to indicate colors of a selected sports team.
 11. Thehat of claim 10, wherein the body of the hat has two spaced regionsgenerally juxtaposed with ears of the user and each configured to have arespective patch made from the soft material an attached to an inner orouter side of a respective region.
 12. The hat of claim 11, wherein thepatches each attached to the outer side of the body and provided with alogo of the selected sports team.
 13. A method of manufacturing a hat,comprising: selecting a sports team from a group consisting of hockey,football and baseball; shaping a body made from a soft material so thatthe shape of the hat substantially imitates a helmet of the selectedsports team; forming at least one hat component imitating a facemask ofthe helmet by providing an inner reinforcing rib made from a shapememory material and capable of deforming in response to an externalforce applied to the rib and of assuming an initial shape thereof uponremoving the external force, and surrounding the inner reinforcing ribby an outer sleeve made from the soft material, so as the outer sleeveextends complementary to the inner reinforcing element.
 14. The methodof claim 13, wherein the soft material is selected from the groupconsisting of fleece, nylon, wool, cotton and a combination thereof. 15.The method of claim 13, wherein the inner reinforcing rib is selectedfrom metal wire or polymeric material.
 16. The method of claim 13,wherein forming the body includes a step of coupling together as manysegments made from the soft material and coupling the selected segmentsto form a decorative color-coded pattern associated with the selectedsports team.